Trendnet TEW-P21G is a 54Mbps 802.11G multiport Wireless Printserver which allows you to attach two USB printers and a single old-fashion parallel printer and share them wirelessly on the network.
This multiport wireless printserver is powered by the 802.11G wireless standards (and is compatible with wireless 802.11b) which ideally can provide the speed up to 54 Mbps. Unlike wired systems, which can be physically secured, wireless networks are not confined to the inside of buildings. TEW-P21G supports the industrial wireless encryption Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) – WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK (TKIP/AES), and it also support the legacy clients with 64/128-Bit WEP (Wireless Equivalency Protocols). See also the wireless security systems.
Other features for this multiport Wireless PrintServer are as follows:
- One RJ-45 10/100Mbps Auto-MDIX Fast Ethernet Port for wired connection or setting-up purposes
- To support Windows 95/98/ME TCP printing, it includes LPR program. To support Windows 2000/XP it supports IPP printing
- TEW-P21G also supports second HTTP port for Remote Web Configuration and IPP Printing
- For Windows XP/2003/Vista, TEW-P21G supports UPnP (Universal Plug and Play)
- To work with HP GDI printer, TEW-P21G supports Windows Graphical Device Interface (GDI) Printers
- For Mac users, it supports Mac 10.2 “Rendezvous” Zero-Configuration Function” with Post-Script printers
- For IP configuration assignment, it supports DHCP, BOOTP, and RARP
- For management purposes, it supports the Latest MIB-II (RFC 1213)
- To ease the firmware upgrade and Configuration File Save & Restore, it includes built-in flash memory
- To help the error troubleshooting, it supports Printing Access Control/Display and Email Notification.
In small office home office (SOHO) which generally has a single parallel laser-jet printer and couple of small USB color printers, the deployment of this single TEW-P21G Multiport Wireless PrintServer will eliminate the use of always on dedicated computer as a print server.
Connection
Connecting this TEW-P21G multiport wireless PrintServer is very easy in the following steps:
- Connect the antenna (the device is shipped with the antenna un-installed
- Connect the printers either parallel or USB printers to the printer ports.
- Connect the LAN port (RJ-45 port) to the network using the UTP cable. If you deploy the PrintServer in home networking, you can connect the LAN port to one of the Switch LAN ports of the modem or the wireless router.
- Plug-in the AC power adapter into the PrintServer
The next steps are the setup and configuration of the PrintServer using the supplied CD-ROM. First time you need to change your computer IP address to 192.168.0.X (where X is an available number from 2-254), and enter 192.168.0.1 in your web browser to access the Print Server’s Web Utility. Just follow the setup wizard.
For a single device with USB printer and 4-port Switch, you can consider Linksys PSUS4-EU Print-server.
Suggested readings:
- Wireless network troubleshooting – in home networking
- Setting up the wireless router
- Some wireless routers for XBOX console
- How to select the best gaming laptop
- Wireless storage router – DIR685
